Upgrades are in store for Mandalay Towers 1, 2, and 3 in the Las Colinas Urban Center. Parmenter has announced a multimillion-dollar plan to redevelop the three towers and will also redesign Mandalay Park, a 1-acre park located between the buildings. Together the buildings comprise more than 800,000 square feet, 50,000 square feet of which is marked for retail use.
The towers were previously known as Las Colinas Towers I and II and VHA Place. Parmenter affiliates first acquired Las Colinas Towers I and II in 2006 and snapped up VHA Place in 2010. The rebranding of VHA Place to a Mandalay Tower took place in 2013, with the other two now joining the re-brand to create a complete office campus.
Last July the company joined with Partners Group, a Switzerland-based private markets investment manager, to recapitalize the buildings. This move provided the funding for the large-scale redevelopment.
The park redesign is a project of Complete Landsculpture and will include a fire pit, open-air kitchen, koi pond, and wooden pathway walking trail. Construction on the project will begin early this summer. ENTOS Design will oversee the redesign of the buildings interiors, including a redesign of the Towers 2 and 3 lobbies and a renovated fitness center and conference room, among other changes.
“The differences are going to be night and day—very light and bright,” Josh Hedderich, senior vice president of asset management for Parmenter, said in a statement. “Mandalay Tower 2’s lobby will have a new reception desk, seating areas, and a lounge component with new furniture and pendant light fixtures. We’re reorienting the conference center and adding modern features and finishes. We’re also making the fitness center much more contemporary. In Mandalay Tower 3, we’re removing the dark granite in the lobby and reconfiguring it, carving out a tenant lounge, and giving the whole building a boutique feel. We’re also revamping the entryways and upgrading the signage at all three buildings.”
The improvements come at a time when other major developments in the area are scheduled to be completed. The Irving Music Factory is scheduled to open Labor Day weekend, and a second mixed-use development, Water Street, is set to be finished beginning this spring.
The Music Factory and Water Street “are finally going to make the Urban Center what it was always intended to be—a true live-work-play environment,” Hedderich said in a statement. “The office towers stood alone for decades, joined more recently by multifamily. But the ‘play’ component was always missing. Water Street and the Music Factory will change that.”
Currently, Tower 2 is 82 percent leased and Tower 3 is 65 percent leased. Chris Taylor and Rodney Helm of Cushman & Wakefield, who’ve worked to bring Tower 1 from 10 percent to 80 percent occupied, have been selected to broker the three-building office complex.
“There are tenants in Far North Dallas and even Richardson/Plano that never would have considered Las Colinas in the past. But with State Highways 121 and 190, it’s a much shorter commute,” Helm said in a statement. “We’re seeing interest from all over, due to the transportation corridors, proximity to the airports and executive and workforce housing, and, especially, the new walkable amenities.”
